This is a new cider out... and I won't bang on about the various press releases I have been reading from the company - yes, there is room for new good cider... though I think that a lager producer has a bit of a job to convince the hardened cider drinkers in the UK (I wonder which market the drink is aimed at though??)
A very curious thing to note though is that they state that there is a 50% apple juice content in the bottle... a huge leap forward for many producers, though I suspect its not so much throwing down a gauntlet. However, I would love to see juice content displayed on a bottle with a bit more honesty.
Generally these days if I read that something is made from 100% apples/pears (etc.) I take it to mean that, althugh its only 35, 40, 50, 60% juice content in total, 100% of that content is apple/pear etc. juice. The caviat to that is if I know that the producer is an artisan or known to make full juice cider (though normally if a cider is 100% juice it says 'full juice' or 100% juice as opposed to 100% apples!
Anyway. Digressing. So, Stella Cidre is new, its Belgian and its been marketed heavily. Its also on special at many branches of Tesco around the UK. What is it.
Well, its a very deep golden colour with very little smell and quite a lot of fizz. The fizz dies fairly quickly though and it settles down well. How I wish I could be surprised by a big producer though. I am not by this Cidre. Its very syruppy and actually quite hard to drink easily. Think of Magners or Bulmers but concentrated. The taste is also pretty sickly adter a few mouthfuls and this cidre took a while to drink. Maybe that isn't a bad thing... maybe that is the answer to binge drinking?!
Yes, I am disappointed with it. Its only my opinion though as I am sure this is not aimed at people like me. Its aimed as an alternative to lager, or to try to tap into the cider mass market in the UK. It is a controlled cider with a controlled taste and that really is all I can say about it. I suspect that if I had a friend who wanted to explore more interesting ciders ask me where to start, they would probably have already tried this one.
A score of 49/100.
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